Offshore wind farm firm appeals court decision

KINGSTON - A company suing the province over the moratorium placed on offshore wind projects is appealing a judge’s decision to have that lawsuit dismissed.
 
Trillium Wind Power Corp. is hoping to build a 120-turbine, 600-megawatt wind project 28 kilometres south of Prince Edward County, just south of the Duck Islands.
 
The Ontario government, however, put offshore projects on indefinite hold in February 2011, stating that more research needed to be conducted before it would allow them to move ahead.
 
Trillium then filed a $2.25-billion lawsuit against the Ontario government for “cancelling” its project, said John Kourtoff, the firm's chief executive and director.
 
In return, the province made a Rule 21 motion, which is often used to have an action dismissed because it is considered “frivolous,” said Kourtoff.
 
Trillium is appealing the motion.
 
“Our case is not frivolous,” he said. “We have data and information and we have work that was done and we’re prepared to take it before a trial. This denied us the opportunity to go to trial.”
 
In its appeal, Trillium states that, in the October decision, there were errors in points of law and evidence.
 
Kourtoff said that his company’s proposed project is a true offshore project whereas others are “near-shore” projects.
 
If the Ontario government were to relax its moratorium on offshore wind projects, Trillium would drop its lawsuit, Kourtoff said.
 
“We just don’t think litigation is the right way,” he said, but added that the company is prepared to go to trial for as long as it takes.
 
Instead, Kourtoff believes the government should take a methodical approach to developing wind farms, by first allowing those situated furthest away from land to be built, such as the one Trillium hopes to build south of Prince Edward Country, and then studying its impacts.
 
“Just allowing sort of a Klondike-gold rush mentality never suits any industry, I don’t care what industry it is,” Kourtoff said. “We’re trying to avoid that.”
 
Trillium has conducted extensive studies and is “not afraid of going through the environmental process,” Kourtoff said.
 
He said that studies conducted by naturalists on what impact the turbines would have on bird and bat populations overstates that impact.
 
For the county project, the company held open houses in Napanee, Picton and Cape Vincent, N.Y., even though Kourtoff said the last one wasn’t required.
 
“What we want to do is build things intelligently, and it’s that ‘intelligently’ that we were denied,” Kourtoff said.
 
“And, as being the leader in North America, it was obviously even worse for Ontarians because instead of being at the forefront of one of the renewable industries — which so far we haven’t been, we’ve always been playing catch-up — we’re basically shooting our pioneers, and that’s not a good way to be at the forefront of anything.”